Reliance to launch stores for health, books and apparel

Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail, which has stores across formats like food, consumer electronics and hypermarket, will by December unveil exclusive outlets to retail products ranging from apparel to health and wellness and books to footwear.

Beginning with the festive season, the company expects to open at least one store for each of these products by the year-end.

"The pilot health and wellness stores would be up and running in next three months and we are looking at establishing pan-India presence shortly after the first one," Reliance Retail President and Chief Executive (Operations and Strategy) Raghu Pillai told PTI.

"The first apparel store will be launched in Delhi before Diwali,"

he said, but did not give the financial details. The company which has already set up a separate store for consumer electronics under the Reliance Digital brand, would add six to eight more such outlets in metros by the year-end, Pillai added.

The company would be investing over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) over the next three to four years for setting up 150 Reliance Digital stores to sell consumer durables such as TV, cooking range, refrigerator etc from across brands.

On Tuesday, the retailer launched its first hypermarket -- Reliance Mart -- in Ahmedabad that will sell full line groceries to general merchandise at budget friendly prices, and announced setting up of 500 such superstores across the country by 2010.